Conor Glass doesn’t take long to consider his answer. Derry have been building for several seasons, so can they now translate that progress to All-Ireland success?
“I hope so, aye,” says the Derry captain. “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe it.”
“That’s the ultimate goal, we fell short last year but we feel that we have the personnel to do it. I’m sure all the quarter-finalists would say that too, though.”
It has been quite a whirlwind two seasons for Derry football. In May 2022 they captured a first Ulster SFC since 1998 and advanced to last year’s All-Ireland semi-finals, while this term they achieved league promotion to Division One before then retaining the Anglo Celt cup.
The year it all worked out: Brian Lohan on Clare’s All-Ireland deliverance
Irish Times Sportswoman of the Year Awards: ‘The greatest collection of women in Irish sport in one place ever assembled’
Malachy Clerkin: After 27 years of being ignored by British government, some good news at last for Seán Brown’s family
Two-time Olympic champion Kellie Harrington named Irish Times/Sport Ireland Sportswoman of the Year 2024
But prior to that provincial final win over Armagh in May, Derry manager Rory Gallagher stepped down following allegations by his former wife, Nicola, of domestic abuse. Ciarán Meenagh subsequently stepped up to manage the team.
“We were completely in the dark, as simple as it sounds, all we could focus on was the game,” recalls Glass. “We stayed out of the public eye a bit more and all we could do for the Ulster final was win. We just set out to win, to get over the line was massive for us.
“If we had lost that game I don’t know what the round-robin series would have been like because there would have been a lot more questions asked of the team and of Ciarán and the management.”
Glass says Gallagher has had no involvement with the team since he stepped away.
“I don’t know the day when we last saw him, I think it was the week of when the news broke.
“Ciarán Meenagh is an unbelievable fella in terms of football but also he’s a family man and an absolute gentleman and the way he has dealt with the whole situation has been outstanding.”
It is no coincidence Derry’s trajectory has been on an upward curve since Glass made the decision to discontinue his Aussie Rules career and return home to Derry in late 2020. His game-smarts and leadership in the middle third have been instrumental in reigniting the county’s footballers.
Monday’s draw pitted Derry against Cork in an All-Ireland quarter-final this Sunday at Croke Park. The Oak Leaf side beat Clare at this stage last year but came up short against Galway in a semi-final.
Glass believes the group has evolved since then and hopes the experience of 2022 can stand to them over the weeks ahead.
“We fell one game short of reaching the All-Ireland final last year and we felt we let ourselves down,” he adds. “We played not to lose instead of playing to win in the semi-final last year, so we’ve tried to put our best foot forward this year.
“We had the best defensive record in Ireland last year but you’ve got to mirror that with attacking play and this year we feel we’ve done that. Shane McGuigan is shooting the lights out which helps the scoring efficiency when he’s scoring seven or eight points a game.
“He has to have support and we feel we’ve got the right balance with it, Shane’s not the only one scoring but because he’s such a big attraction for defenders it opens up spaces for other players. It’s good having a marquee forward like that.”
A bugbear of Derry fans for some time now has been the omission of McGuigan by some analysts when discussing the game’s top forwards. The Slaughtneil clubman’s form this year has been key to Derry’s return to the last eight of the championship and Glass sees him as being on the same level as David Clifford and Con O’Callaghan.
“He’s in that bracket, he’s not far away,” says Glass. “Maybe because he’s not playing for Kerry or Dublin, that’s the perception. If he was playing for those teams, he would be getting more headlines.”
If McGuigan has been Derry’s main player up top, at the other end goalkeeper Odhrán Lynch is a pivotal influence in the team’s overall gameplan. Lynch regularly gets up the field to act as a plus one in Derry’s well-honed system. He has even been chipping in with a few scores himself.
The position of goalkeeper has continued to evolve more than any other over the last decade and Lynch is contributing to that development.
“He’s not your Ethan Rafferty type player, your [converted] outfield player,” explains Glass. “Lynchy is actually a goalkeeper. He’s so smart, he set up two or three points against Donegal, he’s a key cog in our attack, if needs be.
“It’s high risk but it’s high reward as well. Attacking with 15 inside the opposition’s 45, if it’s turned over you’re in deep trouble. But that’s the price you pay to play that sort of football.”
